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Craft and Criticism
Literary Criticism
Craft and Advice
In Conversation
On Translation
Fiction and Poetry
Short Story
From the Novel
Poem
News and Culture
History
Science
Politics
Biography
Memoir
Food
Technology
Bookstores and Libraries
Film and TV
Travel
Music
Art and Photography
The Hub
Style
Design
Sports
Lit Hub Radio
The Lit Hub Podcast
Awakeners
Fiction/Non/Fiction
The Critic and Her Publics
Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast
Memoir Nation
Beyond the Page
First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing
Thresholds
The Cosmic Library
Culture Schlock
Reading Lists
The Best of the Decade
Book Marks
Best Reviewed Books
CrimeReads
True Crime
The Daily Thrill
Log In
John Donne
Exile, Imprisonment, Aloneness: Emma Sloley on the Dark Allure of Writing About Islands
The Author of “The Island of Last Things” Visits Alcatraz and Offers an Antidote to Doomerism
By
Emma Sloley
| August 14, 2025
In Praise of Poetry About Bugs
Hannah Brooks-Motl on Insect Verses by John Clare, William Blake, David Seung, and More
By
Hannah Brooks-Motl
| June 2, 2025
“Make it New... Again.” Why We Need Alexander Pope’s Wild, Weird Poetry Today
Ryan Ruby on the Need to Shake Up Our Modern Era of Clean Professionalization
By
Ryan Ruby
| November 22, 2024
Armen Davoudian on Immigration, Enjambments, and How Poems Can Make Loss Tangible
The Author of “The Palace of Forty Pillars” in Conversation with Poets.org
By
Literary Hub
| March 11, 2024
On Drinking, the Devil, and
Paradise Lost
Ed Simon Searches for Milton's Grave While Getting Blackout Drunk in Pubs
By
Ed Simon
| August 15, 2023
Divine Poetry: Katherine Rundell Shines a Light on John Donne
“My hope was that they would finish the book and immediately go and find his poetry.”
By
Malcolm Borthwick
| March 29, 2023
Best Reviewed
Books of the Week
Sex and the 16th Century: How John Donne Learned To Write Love Poetry
By
Katherine Rundell
| October 5, 2022
Experiencing Kenosis in the Poetry of Donne and Shakespeare
By
Jason Gots
| March 1, 2022
Paul Muldoon on Writing Poetry from a Place of Innocence and Ignorance
By
The Quarantine Tapes
| April 13, 2021
A newly unearthed manuscript might hold the key to questions about John Donne’s readership.
By
Walker Caplan
| December 7, 2020
Beyond Shakespeare: A Reading List
Plenty to Read in One of the Greatest Literary Moments in History
By
Ed Simon
| April 25, 2016
7 Novels That Explore Motherhood's Complexities
November 4, 2025
by
Donna Freitas
To Break Up with Friends, or to Murder Them: 5 Novels Featuring Fatal Friendship Failings
November 4, 2025
by
Jenna Satterthwaite
The Trauma Behind the "Good Old Days": Christina Henry on the Dark Trap of Nostalgia in Fiction
November 4, 2025
by
Christina Henry
The Best Reviewed Books of the Week
"Not much happens In fact there is much in the text that is not made…"